Finasteride Information

Finasteride: method of administration, patient reviews and price

Finasteride, a crystalline powder of white color, practically insoluble in water and easily soluble in chloroform, belongs to the category of hormonal antitumor drugs used to treat prostatic adenoma.

One of the positive side effects of its effect is the ability to prevent hair loss, which allows using the drug to combat premature male pattern baldness.

Form of issue, composition and packaging

The drug finasteride, intended exclusively for oral (through the mouth) consumption, is available in a single dosage form - in the form of biconvex round tablets, covered with a bright blue shell and labeled "F5" on one side.

The active ingredient of the drug is finasteride (5 mg per tablet).

The dispersed film coating of opadrai in which the tablets are coated consists of a whole complex of auxiliary components: monocrystalline cellulose, lactose monohydrate, corn starch, magnesium stearate and lauryl macrogolglycerides.

Manufacturers pack tablets into contoured vacuum blisters, accommodating seven, ten and fourteen pieces. Blisters (one to four), along with instructions for the use of the drug, are placed inside cardboard packs.

Indications for use

Finasteride is used to treat patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (adenoma). Under the influence of the drug:

- there is a significant reduction in the size of the affected gland;

- the rate of urine outflow is maximized;

- the probability of the development of the mechanism of acute urinary retention is significantly reduced, for the elimination of which there is a need for the use of catheterization or in performing prostatectomy operations (removal of the entire prostate gland or part thereof) and transurethral resection (minimally invasive surgical intervention aimed at rapid elimination of urinary problems) of the prostate.

Contraindications

The drug finasteride is absolutely contraindicated:

- Patients who are hypersensitive to the main active ingredient and to individual components of the chemical composition.

- Women of childbearing age.

- Pregnant women.

- For the children.

With great care, you can apply the drug to treat patients suffering from:

- Obstructive uropathy (a condition that occurs on any part of the genito-urinary tract and is accompanied by blockage of the urine flow, fraught with serious damage to the kidneys);

- varying degrees of liver failure;

- prostate cancer.

Mechanism of action of the drug

Finasteride slows the action of 5-alpha-reductase of the second type, which promotes the conversion of testosterone into 5-alpha-dihydrotestosterone, a substance with significantly greater activity. As a result of this process, the concentration of the newly synthesized hormone in the blood plasma and in the cells of the prostate gland is significantly reduced. This effect persists throughout the day after taking the drug.

Finasteride blocks the stimulating effect of testosterone on the growth of tumor structures. As a result of regular inhibition of the formation of 5-alpha-dihydrotestosterone, the volume of the pathologically enlarged prostate gland is significantly reduced, the maximum rate of urinary outflow is increased, and the painful symptomatology of insufficient conductivity of the urinary ducts is rapidly declining.

In patients who regularly take the drug in full accordance with the recommendations of their treating specialist, the first significant results of treatment are recorded at regular intervals:

- the volume of the affected prostate gland begins to decrease in twelve weeks after the start of treatment;

- A decrease in the overall pathological symptoms and the consequences of obstruction of the urinary tract is observed after seven months of daily treatment.

If - contrary to the prescriptions of the doctor - the patient stops taking finasteride, the disappeared-there were pathological changes in the prostate gland (together with a set of accompanying symptoms) will return within six months.

Complete absorption of finasteride by the organs of the gastrointestinal tract occurs after six to eight hours. Possessing good absorption and high penetrating ability, the drug quickly spreads through the body, easily penetrating into tissues and all kinds of biological fluids (in the ejaculate concentration rapidly reaches 5 g).

The level of bioavailability (the ability of the drug to be absorbed with maximum benefit to the body) finasteride is almost 80%. The maximum time (its value is 8-10 ng / ml) of the drug concentration in the blood plasma is two hours, and its connection with blood plasma proteins is at the level of 92%.

After overcoming the hemato-encephalic barrier, a small amount of finasteride is present in the cerebrospinal fluid within a week after the start of the therapeutic course.

With prolonged medication, an insignificant cumulation of the active substance in the tissues of the body is observed. The half-life of the drug in men, belonging to the age category from 18 to 60 years, is not less than six hours. In patients older (after seventy) age category, it is extended by two hours.

The large (almost 58%) part of the drug in the altered (in the form of metabolites) form leaves the body of the patient along with the calves, 39% - along with the urine. In patients with chronic kidney failure, some metabolites (those that are usually excreted in urine in healthy patients) can be excreted along with feces.

Instructions for use Finasteride

Finasteride belongs to the category of drugs that should be taken for a very long time. Therapeutic regimens are developed individually for each individual patient.

1. The drug, intended for oral use, usually takes one tablet once a day (you can both before and after food: it is only necessary that the digestive process is already started when the drug enters the gastrointestinal tract). Do not chew the tablets.

2. Finasteride can be used both for monotherapy and in combination with the drug "Doxazosin".

3. If, for any reason, another drug intake has been missed, you can not break the usual schedule of treatment by taking two tablets at once: instead of the expected benefit, you can damage your body.

4. With respect to patients suffering from various types of renal failure, there is no particular need for the selection of therapeutic doses, since during the study of pharmacokinetics it was established that the patient's condition does not affect the excretion of the drug.

5. The same principle applies to elderly people, although finasteride is not as effective from the body of patients older than seventy years old.

Side effects

The undesirable effects that arise in response to the use of the drug are combined in this list:

- The immune system can respond to it with symptoms of hypersensitivity.

- The reaction of the mammary glands and the reproductive system can lead to the development of gynecomastia (a painful enlargement of the mammary glands in men accompanied by hypertrophy of adipose tissue), impotence, pain in the testicles, various ejaculation disorders and a significant decrease in the volume of ejaculated secretion.

- Patients prone to allergic reactions may experience severe swelling of the face and lips, a rash on the surface of the skin; The patient often complains of hives accompanied by severe itching.

- The influence of finasteride on the digestive system is manifested by the activation of hepatic enzymes.

- The circulatory system reacts to finasteride by the development of palpitation (irregular heart muscle functioning).

- Mental reaction of the body may manifest a significant weakening of sexual desire.

- In the blood of the patient receiving Finasteride, the concentration of hormones: luteinizing (LH) and follicle stimulating (FSH) can increase, while the content of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is significantly reduced.

Finasteride Overdose

The administration of a single dose of finasteride in the amount of 400 mg and subsequent regular drug treatment (dosage size - 80 mg during the day) for twelve weeks did not cause any negative symptoms in patients.

The developed recommendations concerning the treatment of patients with an overdose of finasteride are not available at the moment.

Special instructions

- In patients with finasteride, patients who have a significantly reduced outflow of urine or a large volume of residual urine, need careful monitoring of the likely development of obstructive uropathy.

- Before starting treatment, you should make sure there are no diseases that can simulate adenoma of the prostate - stricture of the urethra, prostate cancer, infectious prostatitis, bladder hypotension and all kinds of violations of its innervation.

- Pregnant women and patients of childbearing age should exclude the possibility of contact with finasteride, which has a teratogenic (capable of disrupting the normal course of development of the reproductive organs in male embryos) by action and penetrating into the seminal plasma.

- The reception of finasteride leads to a significant decrease in the level of PSA in the blood. After six months of treatment, it falls by 42%, in a year - by 48%.

To exclude the possibility of developing a malignant tumor of the prostate gland, patients taking finasteride should undergo a regular examination.

Compatibility

Drugs antipyrine, warfarin, propranolol, glyburide, digoxin and theophylline when interacting with finasteride do not lead to the emergence of clinically significant symptoms.

Clinically significant drug interaction is also not observed with the concomitant use of finasteride and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, quinolones, beta and alpha-adrenoblockers, diuretics, nitrates, ACE inhibitors and HMG-CoA reductase, calcium channel blockers and benzodiazepines.

In patients daily consuming more than 50 ml of alcoholic beverages, the risk of developing prostate cancer is significantly increased, and the positive effect of finasteride on the body is significantly reduced. In a special medical study (covering almost 11,000 men over the age of fifty) over a period of seven years, it was shown that alcohol consumption during the treatment with finasteride increases the risk of developing prostate cancer (both low-grade and low-grade Forms) by almost 90%. Important in this case is the type of alcoholic beverage consumed.

The highest risk is exposed to beer lovers. With the use of natural wine, the probability of developing prostate cancer was the lowest. Scientists emphasize that the negative impact of alcohol is observed only in the case of regular use of sufficiently large doses. If small portions of alcoholic beverages are not used too often, it does not have a particular effect on the risk of developing prostate cancer.

Considering the fact that the metabolism (the change in the drug with the formation of the products of its disintegration - metabolites) of finasteride occurs with the participation of the CYP3A4 isoenzyme, it is undesirable to use it simultaneously with drugs that are inhibitors or inducers of the above isoenzyme, since their effect may affect plasma concentrations of the preparation Blood.

Reviews about Finasteride

Veronica:

My husband suffers from an adenoma of the prostate. The half-year course of treatment with finasteride (the volume of the prostate was sixty-five cubic centimeters) helped to normalize the size of the affected organ and eliminate problems with urination. The use of the drug provoked an unexpected side effect: accelerated growth of hair on the entire surface of the body. Fortunately, for a man it does not really matter. The attending physician said that to take finasteride will have throughout life.

Max:

Being still very young man, I longly drove away from myself the thought that the culprit of the painful symptoms observed by me is prostate adenoma. After a thorough urological examination and confirmation of this diagnosis, I was assigned finasteride. I accept it already for a year. It was possible to achieve a positive result and a significant relief of the condition. An impressive list of side effects listed in the instructions for use, initially aroused fear, but fortunately, none of them (including probable problems with potency) touched me.

Richard:

I was surprised, after reading a review that the reception finasterida led to increased hair growth. I take this drug for just over two years. Before I became acquainted with the effect of this medication, my body was covered with dense vegetation, which could be envied by an anthropoid primacy. Now there is not a hair left on him (even on his feet).

The price of Finasteride medicine in online pharmacy

The cost of finasteride mainly depends on the manufacturer, as well as on the place of purchase of the drug. The average price of a package containing thirty tablets (5 mg each) of a drug produced in Canada or India in pharmacies in USA is $41.10. The same package of finasteride, produced by the Israeli pharmaceutical company Teva, will cost the consumer $50.

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